Page 36 of Under the Lights
“That’s fifty dollars in the Eagles fund, everybody,” Jen yelled. “Sam Leavitt, you’re up!”
Sam went two for three and by the time Alex had gone—getting only one hit—Chase could see that Kelly was shivering. When Deck stepped up, the crowd cheered so loudly Chase thought the water in the tank might have rippled. Not only was Deck a member of the championship team, but he’d also stayed in Stewart Mills and was obviously a hometown favorite.
Maybe it was from playing ball with his boys, but Deck had a great arm and put Kelly in the water with all three throws. Philly dunked her once, and then it was Coach’s turn.
“Dad, really?”
Coach grinned and Chase joined most of Stewart Mills in cheering him on as he dunked his daughter three times in a row.
Even though there were probably a lot of citizens who’d like the opportunity to dunk one of their police officers, they were after the bounty Simon Ward offered, so Chase found himself up again.
As nice as the day had been, he knew the water in the tank—which had been filled with and was being replenished by the hose—was freezing, and Kelly’s lips were chattering now. The taunting challenge he’d seen on her face the first time he’d faced her had been replaced by determination, and he knew she wouldn’t quit.
“The half hour is almost up,” Jen announced. “Make your throws count, Chase.”
He’d been considering deliberately missing, to give her a break, but now the pressure was on again. The first throw was a dead-center hit, and the cheering drowned out the sound of the splash as Kelly hit the water.
The second throw was a somewhat legitimate miss. He might have pulled it sideways just a bit when a shudder wracked Kelly’s spine. With a sigh, he took the third ball from Gretchen and looked her in the eye.
Despite the fact that she was freezing, she gave him a slight, shaky smile and arched her eyebrow. She wanted that fifty dollars for the Eagles fund, and what the hell was he waiting for? Still, he hesitated. Under the bravado, she was miserable and he didn’t want to add to it.
“Get it over with so she can get out of there,” Jen muttered at his side.
Good point. He showboated for a moment, giving the crowd a performance that would hopefully keep interest in the tank high and the five-dollar bills flowing. Then he went through his comedic windup routine and let the ball fly.
She went down like a rock and actually stayed under long enough that he and Coach each took a step forward before she surfaced. After waving to the crowd, who gave her a healthy round of applause, Kelly climbed out of the tank and ducked behind it.
Chase knew her mom had a towel, but he didn’t think it would do much to dry her off, never mind warm her up. As Coach and Jen worked the crowd and found a new volunteer to take a dunking, Chase made his way around the contraption and found Mrs. McDonnell squeezing the water from her daughter’s scalp and ponytail with a towel while Kelly grabbed bunches of her T-shirt in her hand, trying to wring the water out of it.
“That water was freaking cold,” Kelly was saying.
“We probably should have filled it days ago and let the sun warm it,” Mrs. McDonnell said. “But every time water splashes out, we have to add more from the hose, anyway.”
“You okay?”
Both women looked up at him and Kelly nodded. “Thanks to Simon Ward hating me, we raised a lot more than we anticipated. The spaghetti dinner might actually put us over the top.”
Even with her bottom lip trembling with cold, her smile was so proud and triumphant, he had to smile back. “I hope so.”
“Good job, Kelly.” The chief joined them, still holding the miscellaneous pieces of cop stuff that couldn’t get wet. “I’m going to hang around for the duration, so you can end your shift early. Go home and change. Get warm.”
“Thanks, Chief.” She grimaced as she shoved her feet into her boots, and then she took her belongings from her boss. “That sounds like a great idea.”
“They’re trying to get your husband in the tank,” the chief told Mrs. McDonnell.
“What?” She handed Kelly the towel. “Absolutely not. Honey, I need to go keep an eye on your father before he gets pneumonia. You go home and get warm and I’ll talk to you later.”
Mrs. McDonnell and the chief—who Chase thought had gone to school together—walked around the dunk tank, leaving Kelly and Chase alone.
“If it’s any consolation,” he said, “I feel bad about dunking you.”
“Don’t.” She buckled on her belt and secured her weapon, though she skipped the button-down shirt and vest. “Every splash was fifty dollars in the fund.”
“Still, you’re freezing.”
“Not for long. I’m going to do exactly what they said and go home to change.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
